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Poland’s ruling party hopes call for German war reparations can swing election

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 23:14:20 GMT

CZĘSTOCHOWA, Poland — Agnieszka Majewska, a grandmother and retired shop worker from a village near Lublin in eastern Poland, has no doubt it is high time for Germany to compensate Poles for the murderous devastation it wrought during World War II.We are standing outside the Chapel of Our Lady at the Jasna Góra Monastery in Częstochowa. It is packed with worshippers, as every day of the year. They kneel and pray where the young seminarian Karol Wojtyła — later Pope John Paul II — made a secret visit during World War II, when the occupying Germans banned pilgrimages to Poland’s most important shrine. There was good reason for the Nazis to fear such pilgrimages: The chapel houses the revered Black Madonna of Częstochowa, a four-foot-high icon credited by the Polish faithful with inspiring monks to defy a siege by a previous horde of invaders — the Swedes — in a near-miraculous victory in 1655. No intervention spared Poland from the carnage of the 1939-1945 war. Nearly 6 mill...

This year’s COP could be the most important yet

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 23:14:20 GMT

Michael Bloomberg is a United Nations Special Envoy and former mayor of New York City.In a year when the climate has roared with unprecedented ferocity — with more and more people confronting a daily reality of debilitating heat, deadly wildfires and flooding, and devastating droughts — the long-term benchmarks that guide global climate talks have never felt so futile.The focus of this year’s U.N. Climate Change Conference (COP28) cannot be 2050 or 2040 or even 2035. It must be on the here and now, and it must produce new action that will dramatically reduce emissions by 2030.I have long warned against decades-long time horizons for climate goals because they serve as excuses for dangerous delay and inaction. By this point, the warning sign should be flashing red.As this year looks to be the hottest in recorded history, we have seen alarming new evidence of two connected shifts that could bring catastrophe: the accelerating melting of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, which co...

Putin exposes the myth of Austria’s victimhood

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 23:14:20 GMT

VIENNA — No one does victimhood quite like Austria.Over the past century, the Central European country has presented itself to the outside world as an innocent bystander on an island of gemütlichkeit, doing what it can to get by in a treacherous global environment.“Austria was always apolitical,” insists Herr Karl, the archetypal Austrian opportunist, brought to life in 1961 by Helmut Qualtinger, the country’s greatest satirist. “We were never political people.”Recalling Austria’s collaboration with the Nazis, Herr Karl, a portly stockist who speaks in a working-class Viennese dialect, was full of self pity: “We scraped a bit of cash together — we had to make a living…How we struggled to survive!”Russia’s war on Ukraine offers a bitter reminder that Austria remains a country of Herr Karls, playing all sides, professing devotion to Western ideals, even as they quietly look for ways to continue to profit from the country’s friendly relations with Moscow.The most glaring example of thi...

Liz Truss will never give up

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 23:14:20 GMT

LONDON — Her term in office was famously shorter-lived than a salad vegetable. But that doesn’t mean Liz Truss is ready to admit she was wrong.A year on from the pivotal event of her doomed premiership — the ill-fated “mini-budget which sent U.K. financial markets into a tailspin — one might expect the former British prime minister to mark the anniversary in silence … or perhaps in hiding. Not Liz Truss. On Monday Truss will try to take ownership of the narrative with a high-profile speech in Westminster to mark the anniversary, defending her economic record and setting out a “vision” for faster growth.Truss will insist her tax-cutting policies, had they been fully implemented, would have triggered significant investment into the U.K. and sparked long-term improvements to economic growth — and only had to be junked due to intense pressure from “the political and economic establishment.” “I was effectively forced into a policy reversal under the thr...

Zelenskyy’s secret ‘Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare’

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 23:14:20 GMT

Jamie Dettmer is opinion editor at POLITICO Europe. Hardly a day goes by now without reports of yet another derring-do Ukrainian commando raid on targets in Russian-occupied Ukraine — sometimes even with hints of Kyiv-organized sabotage, or possibly assassinations, inside the Russian Federation.Last week saw an especially dramatic raid, when Ukrainian commandos skimmed the western Black Sea on rigid-hull inflatable boats to retake a couple of oil drilling platforms just east of Snake Island. Nicknamed the Boyko Towers, these platforms had been seized long before the invasion of February 2022 — they had been grabbed by Russia in 2015, after Crimea’s annexation in 2014.Ukraine’s defense ministry was quick, as it always is, to tout the military accomplishment, and the country’s military intelligence agency noted that the raid was of strategic significance, stating: “Russia has been deprived of the ability to fully control the waters of the Black Sea, and this makes Ukraine many st...

Police: Juveniles among 5 people shot in Dorchester

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 23:14:20 GMT

An investigation is underway in Dorchester after five people were found shot Sunday night, police said.Officers responding to a ShotSpotter activation at the intersection of Ames and Stratton streets around 8:35 p.m. found the injured people, police said.Three of the injured were adults and two were juveniles, police said.One of the juvenile victims was taken to the hospital with life-threatening injuries and the rest were suffering from what were considered non-life-threatening injuries.No additional information was immediately available.Anyone with information is urged to call Boston police.https://twitter.com/RobWayTV/status/1703583580771795135This is a developing news story; stay with 7NEWS on-air and online for the latest details.

5 victims shot in Dorchester — two juveniles with one critical

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 23:14:20 GMT

Five people have been shot in Dorchester, two of them juveniles, as city officials urged witnesses to come forward and help.One of the juveniles shot is in critical condition, according to police Commissioner Michael Cox. He added there was some type of family gathering on Ames Street when the shots rang out at 8:36 p.m.“We need the public’s help and support on this,” Cox said. “If you saw something please let our investigators know.”DA Kevin Hayden also asked for community help echoing the need for tips.“We’re here doing everything we can. Yet this is another incident where it cries out for the community’s help,” Hayden said.Mayor Michelle Wu said the shots pierced the night when families are usually putting their kids to bed so they’ll be ready for school in the morning.“I’m angry. I’m upset,” Wu said. “I’m praying with all my heart for those in the hospital to recover … but we ne...

Australia tells dating apps to improve safety standards to protect users from sexual violence

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 23:14:20 GMT

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia’s government said Monday the online dating industry must improve safety standards or be forced to make changes through legislation, responding to research that says three-in-four Australian users suffer some form of sexual violence through the platforms.Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said popular dating companies such as Tinder, Bumble and Hinge have until June 30 to develop a voluntary code of conduct that addresses user safety concerns.The code could include improving engagement with law enforcement, supporting at-risk users, improving safety policies and practices, and providing greater transparency about harms, she said.But, Rowland added, if the safety standards are not sufficiently improved, the government will use regulation and legislation to force change.“What we want to do in this sector is not stifle innovation, but balance the harms,” she told reporters.The government is responding to Australian Institute of Criminology rese...

What are the sister cities of St. Louis?

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 23:14:20 GMT

ST. LOUIS - Cultural influences are strong in St. Louis, not only through history and traditions, but also support from more than a dozen sister cities. A sister city, also known to some as a twin city or friendship city, forms when two cities from different countries form a partnership with each other. For many big cities around the United States, building ties through sister cities became increasingly popular after World War II. Day Two of UAW strike: Wentzville picketers explain their motives Oftentimes, sister cities work together to promote cultural exchange, economic benefits, tourism, and social initiatives. They open eyes to a variety of cultures and perspectives that exist globally, and partnerships ultimately aim to promote peace and learning. According to the St. Louis Sister Cities Program and Sister Cities Of the World websites, the City of St. Louis is a sister city to 15 cities across 15 different countries. Those include the following:Bogor (Indonesia)Bologna (Ita...

You Paid For It: SoulFisher Ministries clears hurdles to aid women leaving prison

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 23:14:20 GMT

ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. - With help from the You Paid For It team, the path appears clear for an organization helping women get out of prison.Recently, Elliott Davis talked to Shawntelle Fisher, President and CEO of the SoulFisher Ministries in north St. Louis County. After spending 14 years in prison, Fisher came out and earned three bachelor's degrees and a master's degree. She also started the SoulFisher Ministries nonprofit to help other women once they're released from prison. Day Two of UAW strike: Wentzville picketers explain their motives SoulFisher Ministries received a $4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education and a $1.6 million grant from the Department of Justice. The money will help with one big long-term goal: A center to help women recently freed from prison. "We have received a residential building permit," said Fisher. "We’re ready and excited about being able to finally go in and begin renovations on the residential side of the property. We're still a...